Evening Star Newspaper, October 24, 1923, Page 18

18 Wrangel Party Where Economy Meant Death Hired Only One Eskimo to Save Expenses. Refused to Buy Wal- rus Boat in Siberia Because of Price. BY HAROLD NOICE. Leader Wrangel Island Rescue Expedition. Since my return I have studied every scrap of writing left by any| of the members. Wherever possible, | I have supplemented these in my conversations with Ada Blackjack, the sole survivor, and with their friends at Nome. | Although I tealize that there are ' £aps In the story—many things which seem inexplicable—in the main I have come to see it all as vividly as though I had lived through it. H Though T knew personally only one | member of the ill-fated expedition, I feel that I have become well ac- quainted with them all. Fired by Romance. I can imagine just how they felt when they got to Nome—four young men bound on the greatest adventure of trelr lives. Allan Crawford, com- mander of the party. had been se- lected for his special ability when still a student in Toronto University. He was twenty years old, full of en- th m and love of adventure. In th expedition it was the romantic clement which fired him. To be the leader on a secret journey involving such weighty political considerations to feel himself an explorer and scien- tist, carving out for -himself a niche in aretic history; to look forward to the thrill of the far north, where he had never set foot—what could fan the imagination of an_adventurous young man to a hotter flame? Allan realized, of course, that his leadership was purely nominal—that Knight was the real leader of the expedition, by virtue of his former experience. | I have already Knlght—big, happy-go-lucky fellow that he was. He was one of those who never change, never grow up. Although second in command of the party, he must have realized his real ' leadership. He was determined to| impress on the boys his conception of the north—that It was such a| friendly place that any one could find | food and shelter there, no matter how ignorant of conditions. He failed to realize that no spot on earth can be called friendly when man is ill adapt- | ed to his environment, or has not the means or knowledge to adapt himself, Lorne was to prove too passive. He was able to stand hardship, but lacked the foresight and energy to alleviate that hardship. | Endurance Not Test. { There is a mistaken idea that en- durance is the real test of manhood in the north. Endurance is not enough. An explorer must have fore- pictured Lorne Economized the women do the sewing and cook- ing, When the expedition is to cover a_long period of time the question of sewing is especlally important. The Eskimo women are experts in the preparation of skins and in the mak- ing of warm fur garments and water- proof boots, without which the ex- plorer would be seriously handicap- ped. Why the boys did not take an Eskimo family 1 do not know. It may have been because of expense. The Eskimos of Nome, who have been in close contact with the whites since the days of the great gold stampede, have acquired the white man's com: mercialism and & thorough apprecia: tion of the dollar. Apparently, the boys decided to compromise, for they took an Eskimo seamstress, Ada Blackjack. Story of A Later, 1 will let Ada tell her own story of her connection with the ex- pedition. She was twenty-three years old, and, like most Eskimo women, was married when she was a mere child. Already she had had three children, two of whom had dled, and had divorced her husband. She had been brought up in the mission, spoke and wrote English, and was a Chris- tian. She knew little more of the ALLAN CRAWFORD. Twenty-year-old leader of the fll- fated Wrange] Island party. Crawford was one of the three men who started off across the ice to Siberia last win- ter and of whom nothing has ever been heard. sight to anticipate the approaching emergency. Maurer was a young American from New Philadelphla, Ohio, He had been one of the crew of Stefansson’s flag- ship Karluk, which was crushed by the {ce in'the Afrctic ocean, near Wrangel Island, in the winter of 1913, Maurer had escaped the tragic end which befcll some of his comrades and subsequently spent six months on Wrangel Island with the other sur- vivors. At that time he had no edu- cation to speak of, but through asso- ciation with the scientists of the ex- pedition he had acquired a passion for learning. Since then he had spent all his spare hours in study. By the time he got a chance to go on Stefansson's expedition of 1921 he considered him- self sufficiently well grounded in arc- tic maiters to take up exploration as a career. Poor Maurer had been mar- ried only a few days before leaving on what was to prove his last journey. Then there enthusiastic young Milton Galle, a nineteen-year-old boy from Texas, who had traveled through the country as Stefansson's secretary. And hero we have the boys in Nome —enthusiastic, happy, laboring under the excitement of keeping their se- cret. While negotiating for the char- ter of a vessel—the Silver Wave—to carry them to Wrangel Island, they purchased dogs and a sled. Usually Carry Eskimos. life of the Arctic wilds than the boys themselves, yot it is undoubtedly true that without her help they would have perished before they did. Mystery shrouded their departure from Nome. Though they announced their_destination as Wrangel Island, the wiseheads of Nome either refu to belleve them or were ekeptical of their chances of success. The boys' purpose on this expedi tion was to occupy Wrangel Island i the name of King George and to run up the British flag. They had orders from Stefansson to keep this secret. Nome, not knowing .the real reason for the expedition, was full of specu- lation. Four young men were north in a boat, ostensibly for the most unlikely spots in the region. They were not professional trappers, yet they said they were going to make their fortune trapping. Nome sur- mised that no one of them had ever set a trap in his life. The pervading opinion was that the boys had got track of a gold mine and would change their course as soon as they left the vicinity of Nome. Knight's Own Story. I will let Knight tell the story of the journey to Wrangel in his own word I found it typewritten on a picce of yellow paper on @ box in the tent in which Kis body lay. “Well, we were all set and ready to start on our ‘perilous’ journey. So, taking Vic (the little lady cat we got off the S. S. Victorla) under our arm, we departed from Nome at 4 p.m. Sep- tember 9, 1921. I must remark here that all the old croaks in Nome sald that we would never make it (mean- ing_this island). ‘Two_days later we were at Fast Usually, Arctic explorers take one or more Eskimo families with them. The Eskimo men do the hunting and A Giant Oak and its f{corn PWARD and outward—since 1866—has grown this great oak. Firmly rooted in honorable intentions and practices, it has spread its branches into seven States. Today it is the greatest tree of its kind in the world. Hundreds of thousands enjoy its shade. The acorn was an ideal—PURITY. i BREYER ICE-CREAM COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA Distributed in Washington by Green Leaf Ice Cream Company 3404 14th St. N.W. Geo, Athanas & Ce., 1800 U §t. N.W. Mr. Pre American Delicates- Brightwood Delicatessen (Mr. Sequi, prop.), 5605 Georgia Ave. N.W. Campbell Drug Stere, 14th and De- catur Sts. N.W. Dr. Fred Campbell, 4730 14th St. N.W. Calvert Delicatessen, 1967 Calvert N.W. : Ceas, Samuel, 920 H St. N.BE. Donahkoe’s Pharmaey, 11 N. J. N.W. Dr. Davis, 1312 D St, S.W. Hanzys Dreg Store, 1250 22nd St. Harvest Inn, 1312 B St. S.W. Highlands Apt. Cafe, rala St. and Comnecticut Ave. Hodge’s Restaurant, 18 14th St ‘Ave. PURITY PLEDGE THAT BREYE| NEVER CONTAINED A(gkusl. CELATINS, POWDERS OR FILLERS, FLAYORING OF ANY NATURE & ICE CREAM wis™ TERANTS, EXTRACTS O kGt S: ARTIFICUL - REAL CREAM. CMNIIFMTH! IUG.Al.AN: UR| FLAVORINGS | ARE USED TO MAKE o | BREYE| p%) 5 Georgia Kenner Drug Store, 17th and Q Sts, N.W. Kenner Drug Store, 1816 N. H. Ave. Kenesaw Pharmacy, Mt. Pleasant and Irving Sts. Kaplan, L., delleatessen, 1334 14th St. Luder, Frederick, 3308 Georgia Ave. N.W. Monterey Cafeteria, 14th and V Sts. N.w. Morgan - Bros., pharmacy, 2162 Call- | V: fornia St. N.W. 359 Cedar St rk, D. C. Califioridn Fruit Shop (Mr. Mechini), 1824 Col. Rd. N.W. Mr, MeCarthy, restaurant, 1714 ldth St. N.W. N.W. . o Jaimedes, Steve, delicatessen, 1103 . ¥ermeut Ave. N.W. Mejia, Peter, 2302 14th St. N.W. ICE CREAM Jashioned Xind* o'l%‘“‘l‘“ Cafeteria, 21st and B Sts. Park Pharmacy, 33 Laurel Ave, Takoma PIIK’-,-I (Mr. Mq);" Petworth Grocery Stere (Mr. Schuck), 4213 9th St. N.W., ) D;l.leh D. K., 12th and Michigan Ave. Raymond’s Delicatessen, 2820 14th St. Sterman, delicatessen, 3501 14th St. N.W. Taft Pharmacy, Wis. Ave. & Macom! Stckler, J. C., 2006 Florida Ave. Yeatman (mow Mr. B. Mitchell), deli- catessen, Clarendon, Vi s, 605 Pa. Ave. S.E. rs., grocery and delica- Tumble Inn, 10th Thomasos, bakery, 1632 1st St. N.W. MILTON GALLE, Ameriean, y igest of the victims of the Wrangel Island tragedy. Cape, where we were boarded by rep- resentatives of the soviet government and forced to give our destination and plans, much to their amusement, for their sane opinion was that we would Mme. Kelsey has chosen these three dis- tinctive bed davenport suites because they show unusual good taste and are different. D. C, never make it. ‘Wrangel Island has & bad reputation as a place to reach be- cause of ice, but Ican't see thelr ide: for we dld not see a cake of ice the way over. Anyhow, we tried to buy a large skin boat at East Cape, but the Price was 5o darned high that we would not listen to the robbers and left.” Poor boys! If they could only have foreseen what was going to happen they would have bought that skin boat if it had taken thelr last cent. A more experienced explorer would have known it was cheap at any price. Later, they were to bewail again and again the fact that they had no umiak, for without it they were al- most powerless in the walrus hunt. And they needed walrus meat badly. Knight's account of the journey goes on: “Just after leaving this robbers’ nest we ran Into ‘a gale from the west, right in our faces, and we were forced to heave to. Three days later, Wrangel Island heaved in sight, and we tried to find Rogers harbor. At last we thought we had it located and landed our cat and grub in a heavy surf. This was on the night of the 16th. On the morning. of the 16th the Silver Wave left for Nome with the mail, which we had hurriedly written. Before the Sllver Wave left we bought her dory, and it has proven rather useful. “The first thing that we did after |the Wave left was to pitch our tent on the sandspit, for living quarters, and pitch our two small tents, in which we put our supplies. We hit a good place here for driftwood, so we put up a crude frame of a house of drift. And as the snow got all right a few days ago, we covered the whole thing with snow blocks and moved into an 8x10 tent and one 10x12 sewed together, the large one for a living tent and the small one a kitch- en and sleeping quarters for the woman.” The early entrles in Knight's diary show the boys optimistic and full of confidence. Apparently, none of them at this time seems to have the faint- WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1923. est idea how poorly they were equip- ped. “We have a good outilt,” Knight writes on the day following their ar- rival or the island. “The fox tracks look promising. * ¢ We see an occasional seal some distance out. ‘We have a dory, but the surf is un- ceasing, so it is unpractical to launch the boat. 1 had a shot at a large walrus, but missed. The Eskimo wom- an is busy sewing clothing, and she is doing very nicely. We are now busy stacking wood and getting quar- ters ready for the winter.” It is a small wonder that the boys thought the stories of an ice-bound ‘Wrangel Island were grotesque. For the freak weather of that summer of 1921 still persisted, with the ocean undotted by a single cake of ice and the breakers rolling in. Knight writes of this in emphatic term “A beautiful day. Maurer, Galle and I cut and stacked wood all day, in preparation for hauling on the ar- rival of snow. Crawford bullt grub boxes and a tool chest. Saw a seal and dozens of seagulls and terns. The gulls are all flylng west, no doubt turning south at some point farther on. The surf is still running rather heavy and no ice in sight. There are a great number of white owls about and a few ravens, but we have not seen a sign of ptarmigan.” Another entry “Galle making a tool box. Maurer putting supplies in shape. Crawford getting our meteo- rological instruments up, and myself repalring sleds and dog harness. One seal seen and numerous gulls. A heavy surf running.” The_next entries all picture a busy life. Knight speaks of putting in six- teen hours a day. They thought they were making all necessary prepara- tions for the winter. Yet, even from the first, sandwiched in among the | most_optimistic comments, I find the foreshadowing of impending tragedy set down quite unconsciously. (Continued in The Star Tomorrow.) 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